“ In my opinion, the most important quality of a leader is passion”
As you were the first president
Q of the Club, I’ m sure you are the best person to ask about the initiation of the University of Kelaniya Gavel Club. Can you share with us some details about the club history?
The Gavel Club of University of Kelaniya initially started as a Speech Craft programme which was conducted by the Career Guidance Unit of University of Kelaniya. At that time, I was an undergraduate in the Faculty of Management. There was an announcement that certain interviews were going on to select people for a particular Speech Craft programme. Inadvertently, I went comments towards the club as well. The club also helps in the development of the personal and professional career which includes presentation skills, public speaking skills and having confidence in the tasks undertaken. These core values were embedded into everyone’ s blood in the Gavel Club.
What would you recognize as
Q the two main objectives of the club?
The objectives and purposes of our Gavel Club are to develop confidence, communication skills and presentation skills. It is something indispensable for any person irrespective of being programme a success. After about two years, I was selected as the“ Best Gobeyond Leader” in the group. I believe that, to come up to this position in my career, Gavel helped me a lot. It trained us to work with passion and enthusiasm and we loved what we did while enjoying the hardships that we encountered. And almost all the members of our Gavel Club are in good positions, thanks to the strong foundation laid by Gavel.
What was the biggest challenge
Q you faced as the first President and how did you overcome it?
As the first President of University of Kelaniya Gavel Club, the biggest
“ In my opinion, the most important quality of a leader is passion”
for the interview which was conducted by Dr. Kapila and Dr. Mohan and I was selected. It was a speech and presentation skill development programme and was a combination of all the departments. After about six or seven programmes, we realized that we have potential of forming a Club. I have to mention that, Mr. Sujith Bandulahewa, at that time working at Sampath Bank, also the President of Serendib Toastmasters was the trainer and sponsor for us. Firstly, we had a small election and appointed office bearers and the committee got together. We had few tools with us at the CGU and even managed to initiate the“ Traffic Light System”. After a few months we realized that we could go for the Gavel status. There weren’ t any other Gavel Clubs in universities, not even in the country, but, amidst the difficulties, we managed to initiate the First Gavel Club of Sri Lanka, in the University of Kelaniya.
What would you identify as the
Q“ Core values” of the club?
The Gavel Club gives a platform for unity among club members. Students of different faculties and different departments could come together for a common objective and for their own development. This thread still comes along with the members of Gavel, with a feeling of belongingness from a long time onwards. Even now I have connections with my office bearers’ team. Furthermore, Gavel always promotes transparency and honesty. From the beginning, starting from the Icebreaker speech you get genuine responses from the club. At the same time, you tend to give your honest
60 BEST SPEAKER MAGAZINE 2017 an undergraduate or not. Even for an unemployed human being, it’ s something extremely necessary. At the same time, the club also teaches and trains people on how to work as a team. The members learn how to get along as a team, how to accept constructive criticism, how to correct your mistakes and overall, how to develop yourselves.
When talking about leadership,
Q what are the characteristics you believe that every leader should possess?
In my opinion, the most important quality of a leader is passion. Because, a passionate leader sets a good example for the followers of the club. Furthermore, a leader should also have honesty, necessary communication skills, transparency, and empathy towards fellow members. The Gavel Club helps in developing these leadership skills.
How did Gavel help
Q in developing these characteristics in you as a leader?
The experiences at Gavel have helped me to achieve success in my professional career. Having graduated in 2005, after 6 months, I started work at MAS Holdings. I was given the opportunity to organize a women empowerment programme. I was in charge for my unit. I realized that my experiences in the Gavel Club, the platform it provided me to work as a team, the opportunity it gave me to accept differences helped me a lot to make this challenge I faced was registering the Club in the university. Being a female I had to undergo many difficulties. It was a challenge to form and function this club as a non-political society, amidst the political operations in the university in that era. Finding Rs. 15,000 as the registration fee was also a challenge for us. We had a book mark with a nice little quote for the fund raising programme. At the same time, it was a challenge to function the club protecting its professionalism, protecting its main objective; to develop the skills of the students.
What kind of influences does
Q“ public speaking” have on personal development, and the future career of a graduate in your experience? How does Gavel help in this aspect?
Being an employ of the corporate or the public sector, it’ s all about public speaking and communication. We encounter people with different standards. The ability to communicate with all standards was the key to my success. I got the ability to explain and convince others. That’ s a precious gift I received from Gavel.
What would you admire most
Q about Gavel?
What I admire the most in Gavel is its culture, where there is no discrimination among each other, where everyone’ s opinion is valued, respected and appreciated.